New Citizen Pamela Anderson Can Now Vote

Mom, apple pie ... and Pamela Anderson. Yes, the former Baywatch babe is now an honest-to-goodness American citizen.

Anderson, 36, a native Canadian who broke into showbiz as a pitchwoman for her country's Labatt beer – after she was spotted wearing a Labatt T-shirt at a British Columbia Lions football game – became a United States citizen on Wednesday during a brief ceremony in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom, reports Reuters.

"I felt it was important to become a U.S. citizen in order to vote in the United States," Anderson said in a written statement. (She's originally from Ladysmith, British Columbia.) "U.S. citizenship will allow me, in the future, to petition to bring my children's grandparents down to the United States to care for them once they become older."

She was also clear to state: "I have no intention of giving up my citizenship in Canada and am very proud to be a Canadian."

Anderson's lawyer, Barbara Federman, said that her client (who lends her voice to the Spike TV animated series Stripperella) was approved for citizenship eight months after applying and had passed a brief immigration interview in downtown Los Angeles before she was sworn in in a courtroom across the street.

"She was terrific and she was very excited to study the civics and passed with flying colors," Federman said. "She enjoyed every minute of it."